A 52-year-old Hackensack woman was arrested outside her home Wednesday, accused of lacing an acquaintance's tea with a sedative during a meeting over suspicious bank account activity that left the victim hospitalized for days. Rohweniven Bacani now faces a third-degree aggravated assault charge tied to the September 8 incident, according to Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella.
According to Daily Voice, the victim had arranged to meet Bacani at a local restaurant to discuss unauthorized activity discovered in financial accounts the two shared access to. Investigators say Bacani was already waiting with a cup of tea when the victim arrived, and the victim drank some of it before noticing an unusual taste and stopping.
The victim collapsed while leaving the restaurant and later woke up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there, Musella said. She remained hospitalized for several days following what authorities described as a serious medical episode, and she is said to still be recovering from the poisoning.
A Benzodiazepine Allegedly Slipped Into the Drink
Investigators allege Bacani laced the tea with a benzodiazepine, a class of drug commonly prescribed to treat anxiety but tightly regulated and available only with a prescription. Benzodiazepines act on the central nervous system by boosting GABA neurotransmitters in the brain, a mechanism that slows neural activity and produces sedation, cognitive impairment, and muscle relaxation, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. That same federal data shows benzodiazepines were involved in nearly 14 percent of all opioid-related overdose deaths nationwide in 2021.
The drugs carry serious regulatory scrutiny at the federal level. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration updated its strongest Boxed Warnings for prescription benzodiazepines in 2020 specifically to flag risks of abuse, misuse, physical dependence, and severe withdrawal reactions, as noted by American Nurse Journal.
More Than a Month Before an Arrest
Leonia Police were not notified of the suspected poisoning until September 11, three days after the incident, which kicked off a 34-day joint investigation before Bacani's arrest on October 15, per reporting from Daily Voice. That investigation paired Leonia police with the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office Major Crimes Unit and its Robbery-Homicide Division.
Pooling resources between small municipal departments and county-level investigators on complex felony cases is a familiar pattern in Bergen County. The prosecutor's Major Crimes Unit has routinely run similar joint investigations with departments such as Leonia and Bogota, according to Hoodline, reflecting how the county supplements local detective work on major cases.
What Comes Next for the Accused
Bacani was charged with third-degree aggravated assault on October 14 and taken to Bergen County Jail to await her first court appearance. Under New Jersey's statute 2C:12-1(b), a conviction on that charge carries a potential state prison sentence of three to five years and a maximum fine of $15,000, per the Villani & DeLuca law firm's outline of state assault laws.
Indictable felony cases out of Bergen County are typically scheduled for an initial appearance at the Central Judicial Processing Court inside the Bergen County Justice Complex in Hackensack, according to Hackensack Criminal Law. Since New Jersey's 2017 bail reform overhaul largely eliminated cash bail, defendants transferred to Bergen County Jail must undergo a Public Safety Assessment before a judge decides on release conditions or continued detention, per the Lustberg Law Offices. The jail itself, run by the Bergen County Sheriff's Office, serves as the county's central reception and processing center for pre-trial adult detainees with more than 1,150 beds.
It remains unclear whether additional charges tied to the alleged unauthorized bank account activity will follow as that financial piece of the investigation continues. The case adds to a string of recent violent crime prosecutions moving through Hackensack courts; earlier this month, Hackensack police and Bergen County prosecutors charged a separate suspect with second-degree aggravated assault by strangulation in an unrelated incident.
